Tell me a story
by there'snoexcuseforme
Summary: Hippolyta tells her daughter a bedtime story. One shot, reviews are always nice to see.


**OK I'm not entirely happy with how this fic turned out, I had an idea but I don't think it worked in the end, anyway, here it is, it's only a short thing so I hope you like it anyway.**

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 **Tell me a story**

"It's time to go to bed Diana" Hippolyta announced to her daughter, stepping out onto the balcony where Diana was playing with various wooden horses and being watched over by Philippus.

"Ohhhh" she whined, "But I'm not sleepy yet" the almost four year old said.

"You will be once you get into bed" Hippolyta said, picking up the child. "Please don't argue". Diana pouted as she was held by her mother, but she didn't answer back. Hippolyta had been having this argument with Diana almost every night since she could talk. Diana wanted to be a warrior and a grown up, and she wanted to be allowed to stay up like they did, but Hippolyta was her mother and she knew when her baby was tired, so bedtime it was.

"Say goodnight to mama" Hippolyta said, bringing her over to Philippus

"Goodnight mama Phil" Diana said in her cute little voice

"Goodnight Princess, may the Gods bless your dreams" Philippus told her, giving her a kiss and making Hippolyta smile. Philippus was like a second mother to her daughter, she loved her as if she was her own, which was a wonder, considering they were on an island where every woman wished they were Diana's mother and loved her like their own.

Hippolyta carried Diana into her bedroom and began the nightly ritual of putting her daughter to bed. She took her to the toilet and helped her wash her hands and face, she helped her change into her nightclothes and also put a cloth nappy on her much to Diana's chagrin. The little girl insisted she didn't need to wear nappies anymore, but she was still having the occasional accident during the night, so Hippolyta told her firmly that she had to wear them when she was asleep.  
Finally, The Queen and the Princess sat on Diana's bed together while Hippolyta undid Diana's braid and brushed her beautiful dark hair. Diana chatted away whilst her mother did this, about her toys and the stories she made up with them, and Hippolyta listened intently, amused at her daughters imagination. Sometimes the Queen thought that it must be hard for Diana to be the only child on the island, having no playmates of her own age to be with. Of course her mother, her aunt Antiope and Philippus lavished attention on her and gave her playthings, but sometimes she wondered if it was enough.

When everything was done and her hair was brushed she tucked Diana into her little bed and smiled softly as she saw her daughter yawn and rub her eyes, even though earlier she had insisted that she wasn't sleepy. She was wrapping the blankets around her when Diana said "Tell me a story" in her sleepy voice.

Hippolyta sighed, "Diana…" she began, feeling exasperated. She just wanted her daughter to go to sleep so that she could go and spend the rest of her evening with Philippus.

"Please Mama" Diana begged, "I want to hear the clay story"

"I've told you that story hundreds of times already" Hippolyta said to her

"I know, but it's my favourite" Diana said, her little hands playing with the fur on her pillow.

"Alright, settle down and I'll tell you" Hippolyta spoke softly, looking down at her daughter and stroking her face.

" _Once, long ago, before I was the Queen of the Amazons, I was a mortal woman with a desire. A desire to have a child, but my life then was very harsh and that wish was denied to me, it made me very sad Diana. All I ever felt was sadness and in the end the sadness overtook me and my life as a mortal came to an end too soon. But the Gods looked favourably upon my soul, they chose me and many other women like me. They chose our souls and formed us from the sea to become the Amazons. We were created to guide mankind to be good and strong, passionate and wise, the best that man could be._

 _And we did, for a long time mankind followed us and we made them noble, and for that the Gods looked favourably upon us. But even though my life as an Amazon was wonderful there was still sadness inside me._

 _You see Diana, I still desired a child of my own to love, and even though the Gods were good to us I was still sad all the time, because I couldn't have the one thing I had always desired"._

It was at this point in the story that Hippolyta would always overlook mankind's betrayal of the Amazons, and the slavery and the revolt that took place afterwards. That was not for young Diana's ears yet, she was still just a baby.

" _A long time passed and Zeus, the king of the Gods, was pleased with everything we had done for mankind so he decided to reward us. He gave us this beautiful island, Themyscira. So that we could live without mankind, and be allowed to live as we desired. We became strong living here, we became warriors, and senators, and seers, and queens. You see Diana, I had led the Amazons when we lived amongst man and my fellow sisters declared that I should be their leader again now that we had a land of our own._

 _So they made me Queen, and I felt happier than I had felt in a long long time._

 _But there was still a sadness inside me Diana, one that had never gone away in all the years I had lived. It consumed me. I prayed to the Gods every day for a child but I began to fear the Gods weren't listening._

 _Then one night when my heart was so heavy it felt like I was dying, I heard Zeus calling to me. I couldn't understand at first but I began to realise that He wished to reward me. I was drawn to the beach where the tide had turned the sand into wet clay and I could hear Zeus telling me to create a child from it._

 _So I did, I thrust my hands deep into the cold wet clay and sculpted you Diana, it took a long time and my hands were sore and blistered and bleeding from the rough sand by the end of it, but I had finally created a little child out of the clay"._

Hippolyta paused to gaze at Diana again, her eyes were shut but she had a small smile on her face that told her mother she wasn't asleep just yet, she was still listening intently to her mother's tale.

She lay down next to her daughter now, gently stroking her beautiful soft hair and face. She continued, speaking softly to lull her baby to sleep.

" _I held the bundle of clay up to the night sky and begged Zeus to give you life, and suddenly a bolt of lightning came down and stuck the clay. And from my blood, the clay and Zeus's power my prayers were answered that night. The clay began to change, it became flesh, and then I was holding a real baby. It was you Diana"_ she said as she stroked her daughters nose with her fingertip

" _Oh you were so beautiful; you were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I saw you take your first breath, and then I heard your first cry of life. It was such a wonderful sound. I held you so close to me after that and I kissed you and said "Hello my daughter, you will be called Diana. You are my greatest desire come to life".  
I wrapped you up in my robes and spent the longest time just looking at you. I couldn't take my eyes off you. I knew you were mine the moment you looked at me with your gorgeous brown eyes; you were made from my blood, you were part of me and it felt like you had come from my soul.  
I held you on the beach that night until the sun began to rise; I loved you so much I just wanted to keep you close to me. I knew that everyone on the Island would love you as I do, but that night you were just mine._

 _My little child forever"._

That was where Hippolyta ended the story. She knew it was all a lie, she knew the truth was far less fantastic. Diana had simply been conceived through Zeus's lust and had been born from Hippolyta to become a Godkiller and to one day defeat Ares.

Of course it was all a lie, but it was a good lie. It was a lie that little Diana could believe for now.

Hippolyta watched her sleeping babe and let some tears fall down her face, sometimes when she looked at her she couldn't bear the thought of Ares ever hurting her. She knew what Ares was capable of and she knew the horrors of war, but the thought of him ever harming Diana was just too much. So she told the lie to keep her daughter safe.

She hadn't realised how long she had been in Diana's room until Philippus slipped in quietly.

"Is she asleep?" the amazon asked softly, seeing their daughter looking so peaceful and tender.

"Yes" Hippolyta told her, sitting up again and wiping her face "She wanted to hear a story".

Philippus saw her lovers tears but didn't say anything about them; she knew Diana must have wanted to hear about her creation again as that always brought out sadness in Hippolyta.

"Come" she said, reaching out her hand to the Queen. "Let her sleep, she'll still be your daughter in the morning".


End file.
